Do Family Meetings Improve Measurable Outcomes for Patients,Carers, or Health Systems? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Family meetings are a common intervention in acute and subacute inpatient care settings. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the quantitative research exploring the impact of inpatient family meetings on patient, carer, or service outcomes. A search of electronic databases (Medline, Cinahl, Embase, PubMed, and Psychinfo) was conducted from the earliest available time until July 2012. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and quality assessment of included articles was conducted. Eight studies were included in the final selection. Results indicate that there is some low-to-moderate quality evidence that inpatient family meetings reduce psychological distress of family carers and assist in meeting their information and support needs. There is weak evidence that inpatient family meetings may help to reduce readmission rates and facilitate entry to continuing care programs.     

User and Carer Experiences of International Social Care Workers in England: Listening to their Accounts of Choice and Control

Abstract

This paper develops a typology of people using social care services’ preferences for care workers and satisfaction with social care services from a large multimethod study that explored international recruitment to the English social care sector (home and health care, including residential homes). We developed this typology with two questions in mind: (a) what led to satisfaction of care and (b) what led to preference and satisfaction with workers? Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 35 people who were using social care services and carers (2007–2009) and these data were used to develop the typology. Using the theoretical concept of homophily, we explored contentions that people might prefer to receive care and support from individuals resembling themselves. We observed that preferences for care workers and satisfaction with social care services may be linked, but highlighted that the concept of meeting a preference is personal to the individual. The implications of users’ preferences for certain care workers at a time where policy is promoting greater consumer-led care or self-directed support are discussed.     

The architect's gaze: The maintenance of collective professional vision in the work of the architect

Knowledge is something which is essentially embodied and present in the collective practices of seeing, in the professional vision of specific communities of knowledge workers. Architects represent a form of professional and knowledge-intensive work that includes both abstract categories such as style and design (‘form’) and material categories (‘matter’). Thus, professional vision is midway between, but also capable of integrating and co-aligning, abstract/intangible and concrete/material knowledge. Exploring how architects draw on vision and know-how in their day-to-day work, as well as in their engagement with a variety of media at a major Swedish firm of architects, the study suggests that the professional vision of the practicing architect is never fully integrated or coherent but must be subject to constant modifications and joint adjustments.     

The Public Perception of Female and Male Violence in Marital Relationships

Most studies dealing with intimate partner violence (IPV) investigate situations where the man is the aggressor. The present study examines the participants’ social perception of IPV and the connection between social perception and the severity of the violent act and its justification when carried out by men against women and vice versa. The research is based on a structured, self-reported anonymous questionnaire answered by 240 participants. The questionnaire examined demographic variables, attitudes toward IPV, the severity of the violent act, and its justification. Findings indicate that violent behavior of women is perceived as more justified than that of men and that men’s violent behavior is perceived as more severe by women than by men, but women’s violent behavior is perceived to be equally severe by men and women. The study raises awareness of the lack of gender boundaries in violence and of gender discrimination against males.     

Students‘ perceptions of professional social work ethics and the need for the development of competence-based ethics standards in undergraduate training program in Vietnam

As a newly recognized profession in Vietnam over the last two decades social work has undergone significant development, both in training and practice. However, there are many challenges in its professionalization, in which ethics plays a key role. This article presents the key findings of a study about students‘ perceptions of ethics and developing competence-based ethical standards in social work programs. It first analyses the students‘ attitudes and understanding of professional ethics. Second, it clarifies the situation of ethics education in training institutions. Finally, it provides suggestions for the implementation of social work competence-based ethical standards for Vietnam and beyond.     

Hidden Consumer Loans: An Analysis of Implicit Interest Rates on Bounced Checks

Payday lending attracts attention for its high interest rates, but bounce protection loans are much more expensive. Bounce protection is a program where consumers overdraft—write checks in excess of the checking account balance—and the bank pays the check allowing the account balance to be negative. For this service/loan, banks charge the standard non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee. When the amount borrowed is low and the time outstanding is short, the effective interest rate paid on this loan can be quite high. Using a unique data set we were able to quantify how high the interest rate is. We found that the median implicit interest paid by consumers is over 4,000%.

Consumer Debt Repayment Behavior as a Precursor to Bankruptcy

The passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 culminated years of debate over the escalating number of bankruptcy filings and whether or not consumers were abusing the bankruptcy system. Our study focuses on the extent to which households seek bankruptcy protection without first attempting to restructure their debt or experiencing indicators of financial distress. Through multivariate regression analyses of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we find a significant relationship between having prior financial problems and filing for bankruptcy. Our results also indicate that households that obtained consolidation loans were equally likely to file for bankruptcy as those that did not. We conclude that early interventions with financially distressed consumers may provide opportunities to reduce bankruptcy filings.

A Review of Risk Perceptions and Other Factors that Influence Flood Mitigation Behavior

In flood risk management, a shift can be observed toward more integrated approaches that increasingly address the role of private households in implementing flood damage mitigation measures. This has resulted in a growing number of studies into the supposed positive relationship between individual flood risk perceptions and mitigation behavior. Our literature review shows, however, that, actually, this relationship is hardly observed in empirical studies. Two arguments are provided as an explanation. First, on the basis of protection motivation theory, a theoretical framework is discussed suggesting that individuals’ high‐risk perceptions need to be accompanied by coping appraisal to result in a protective response. Second, it is pointed out that possible feedback from already‐adopted mitigation measures on risk perceptions has hardly been considered by current studies. In addition, we also provide a review of factors that drive precautionary behavior other than risk perceptions. It is found that factors such as coping appraisal are consistently related to mitigation behavior. We conclude, therefore, that the current focus on risk perceptions as a means to explain and promote private flood mitigation behavior is not supported on either theoretical or empirical grounds.     

Net Neutrality,Broadband Market Coverage,and Innovation at the Edge*

Net neutrality (NN) is a widely debated policy issue that has the potential to alter the dynamics of accessing online content. The focal point of the debate lies in whether broadband service providers (BSPs) should be allowed to charge content providers for the preferential delivery of their digital content. This decision will affect broadband market coverage for end consumers as well as the issues of long‐term competition and innovation in the market of digital content. Our research aims to analyze and address these issues. We propose a game theoretical model with three players—the BSP, the content providers, and the consumers—where the BSP, in its capacity as a gatekeeper between the content providers and the consumers, is modeled as a two‐sided market platform. We find that while abandoning the principle of NN might sometimes result in increased consumer surplus and broadband market coverage, it can also hinder the ability of startups to compete against established rivals and thus reduce innovation at the edge. The results should be of great interest to policymakers as they debate on this very crucial issue.     

风险感知、制度信任与农户宅基地退出行为

农户宅基地退出行为受内在风险感知和外部制度环境的双重影响。基于四川泸县和宁夏平罗803户农户的调研数据,实证研究了风险感知、制度信任对农户宅基地退出行为的影响,并进一步考察制度信任在风险感知影响农户宅基地退出行为中的调节作用。结果表明:风险感知抑制农户宅基地退出行为,且存在区位异质性;制度信任(行政理念信任和行政行为信任)促进农户宅基地退出行为,且能减轻风险感知对农户宅基地退出行为的负面影响,从边际效应看,行政行为信任的缓解作用强于行政理念信任。由此,提出审视宅基地区位级差效应,建立差别化的宅地基退出权益保障机制和风险防范机制,注重服务型政府的建设,通过改善个体对政府行政的情感态度以提高人们的制度信任水平等建议。